Total sunshine 1236.21 hours
% of average Not Know
Most in a day 16.30 hours June 23rd
Sunless days 66

WIND DATA

Days with gale (10min mean wind 39mph/34kts or more) 1 day

Number of days with wind from

North 39 days

North East 32 days

East 20 days

South East 66 days

South 32 days

South West 37 days

West 48 days

North West 60 days

Calm 48 days

Mean wind speed 4.94 mph

Maximum Gust 42.33 mph January 19th

Cloud Cover 66%

Mean Relative Humidity at morning observation 73%

Mean pressure (mb) at 0900 GMT ONLY 1015mb

Pressure anomaly for year (mb)

Maximum pressure at any time of day 1038mb November 22nd and 23rd

Minimum pressure at any time of day 972mb April 18th

STATION NOTES

Monthly Weather Highlights

January

January 2005 was a notable month for the mildness, the wind and the lack of rain. The month was the one the warmest since 1990 with an average of 6.11c while the rainfall was 61 mm. The main talking point was the wind and the lack of notable snow.

The mean maximum temperature was 8.56c, which was the warmest for 15 years with 1990 showing a reading of 9.8c. The mean minimum was the highest since 1983 these two combined gave a mean of + 2.41c.

The wind reached speeds over 30 mph on six times during the month considering my station is situated in a lee of the hills this is high a maximum of 42.3 mph was recorded on the 19th.

February

There were a total of 11 days on which snow fell during the month howbeit some was only flurries. Overnight on Tuesday the 22nd 1.5 cm of snow fell and during the day it melted. The notable snow event on the higher ground where I live commenced at 22.00 hours approximately on the 22nd and lasted until 16.30 hours on the 23rd giving a total of 15 cms. The local roads were blocked on the higher ground during the day.

On 21st Ice Pellets fell and throughout the month on three occasions small hail fell.

March

March 2005 was a month which started with a cold spell which lasted until the 9th then the temperatures picked up and as a consequence the month was 1.75 c above the mean with the mean minimum being 2.5c above the mean making it the second warmest March mean minimum for the past 50 years according to the local records with 1961 slightly warmer with 5.5c.

April

April 2005 was an average month with temperatures 1 degree centigrade above the average. The rainfall again was 125% of the normal with 82 mm recorded within the month with 16 mm recorded on the 15th. There were no high winds either to speak of but 10.94 hours of sunshine was recorded on the 29th indicating the lengthening days.

May

May 2005 was an average month with average temperatures throughout the month. There was no notable hot spell although 20c was recorded on the 27th. The rainfall again was below average with only 36 mm recorded, which is 63% of the average for May. There was a storm on the 2nd and otherwise apart from a mean wind speed of 6.65 mph the winds were always in the cold sector of the compass 7 days Northerly, 4 days North Easterly, 4 Easterly and 7 South Easterly

June

June 2005 was a month with slightly above average temperatures throughout the month. There were two hot spells, the first was from the 18th to the 20th and that was punctuated by a storm on the 19th. The second spell was the 26th to the 28th and this also ended with a storm on the 28th. The feature of both storms was the lack of rain in the first storm no rain fell and in the second only 8 mm fell. The rainfall again was below average with only 34 mm recorded, which is 63% of the average for June.

The long days produced 3 notable days of sunshine in the hot spell the 26th produced 14.23 hours, the 27th 15.99 hours and the 28th 13.04 hours and the day after the storm on the 29th was sunless.

August 2005 a month with the temperatures slightly above average with the lowest maximum 17.4 c recorded on the 26th. The 17th and 18th were days when the temperature peaked at just over 27.0c but the hottest day was the 31st when in the evening we had a slight thunderstorm.

The month was a dry month yet again with 31 mm of rain falling which is only 44% of the local average a total of 9 wet days were recorded with the 22nd August giving 7 mm in total as the wettest day

September

September 2005 was a month of above average temperatures and above average rainfall. One or two cool nights helped cool the temperatures down slightly without those it would have well over normal. The month started hot before cooling down as the month went on. Rainfall started on the low side but a weak overnight storm heralded the start of a wet month.
Temperatures continued the hot weather from the end of the previous month peaking at 26.7c on the 6th. The mean maximum temperature was +2.5c of the local averages, again the minimum was +3.2 and then the mean temperature was +2.3 above the average.
Therefore there was a new local record set for the mean minimum 12.0c was just 0.3c over the 1999 average.
Rainfall for once came in well above average. It started dry then a weak storm produced 35 mm of rain over two days during the 8th and 9th. Further heavy rain fell on the 15th and 28th, 16 mm and 11 mm respectively

October

A new record mean minimum temperature was set of 10.6c this is .5c warmer than in 2001.

November

It is noted from the 17th onwards that there was a cold spell culminating in a minimum air temperature of –2.3c recorded on the 23rd. Snow was visible on the higher parts of the area.

The rainfall was only 63 mm, which is 79% of the local average, and the month had 91.9 hours of sunshine peaking at 6.88 hours recorded on the 1st of the month

December

December 2005 started on a wet note then quickly dried up, as a weak Atlantic didn’t provide any really vigorous depressions.
Temperatures hit double figures on six days the highest being 12.8c on the 11th and 10.8c on the tenth. The lowest was on the 28th just above freezing at 1.5C. The lowest temperature of the year were recorded on the 29th –3.2c.
Rainfall started out quite well with the highest of 15 mm recorded on the 1st. There was no rain after the 9th until 27th when 1 mm was recorded and this was snow melt. The month was dry with only 29 mm recorded in total, which is just 34% of the local average.
Snowfall was rare again. Occurring on 2 days towards the end of the month and the snow was generally light. Heavy Snow Forecast for the 30th didn’t turn up the milder air moving much quicker than expected.

Total sunshine 1134.5 hours
% of average Not Know
Most in a day 15.12 hours
Sunless days 66

WIND DATA

Days with gale (10min mean wind 39mph/34kts or more) 3 days

Number of days with wind from

North 41 days

North East 15 days

East 25 days

South East 51 days

South 36 days

South West 52 days

West 75 days

North West 60 days

Calm 11 days

Mean wind speed 5.69 mph

Maximum Gust 47.5 mph October 5th

Cloud Cover 79%

Mean Relative Humidity at morning observation 70%

Mean pressure (mb) at 0900 GMT ONLY 1014mb

Pressure anomaly for year (mb)

Maximum pressure at any time of day 1037mb November 13th

Minimum pressure at any time of day 974mb May 5th

STATION NOTES

This was a significant year as my observations began to fall into place with the extension of the time of my observations.

The result was that new records were established locally:

A new record was established for rainfall of 1191 mm this exceeds the 2000 total of 1065.8 mm and my local records did not commence until April of that year. In 2002 the total recorded in my records was 1006 mm and again that was exceeded

Rainfall Totals and %s 2004

Months with New Records in Red

Month Rain Totals in mms %

January 93 113
February 40 39
March 28 43
April 117 189
May 67 115
June 107 169
July 112 197
August 192 187
September 73 107
October 205 280
November 96 123
December 61 172

1191 145%

Temperatures

Again 2004 was a year when records were broken for the mean minimum temperature locally the following table indicates the trend over a broad period of time. The previous record mean minimum was 6.9c set in 1959 also included are the mean temperatures and the figure was only just short of last year’s 11.02c

The 1st of January was a cold day with snow having fallen the previous evening with a minimum temperature of -2.3 and a grass minimum of -7.0. It was only the latter part of the month that temperatures were below zero on the 27th, 28th and 29th. This contrasts well with a minimum 8.6 on the 20th.

The rainfall was above the average and this did not include much snow melt as we only had 1.5 cm on the 1st, 5mm on the 3rd and 1cm on the 28th the fall started with small hail falling, Sheffield was grid locked and if more snow would have fallen the consequences would have been catastrophic.

During the 48 hours over the 30th and 31st 34mm of rain was recorded.

A prominent feature was the high winds with a gale on the 7th and the high winds extended into the 8th and reading of 980mb was taken at 09:00 hrs on the 7th

February

The start of the month saw double figure maximum temperatures until the 7th and
Again the temperatures were high 8th and 9th and they recovered again until the 19th when they fell below the local averages as the cold set in on the 20th.

Apart from the 9th when the minimum was -0.1 minimum temperatures held up well
Until the 19th. Despite this the mean maximum was + 1.53, the mean minimum was +2.14 and
The mean +1.8. The 9th and 16th the grass saw the grass minimum below zero and from the 18th right through into March the grass minimum was below zero.

Air Frost was recorded on 5 mornings and snow fell on the 22nd, 24th, 25th 26th
27th and 29th with 5cms of lying snow on the morning of the 27th.

On the 22nd 1 cm of snow was lying but after the fall of the 27th snow was lying into the month of March in patches.

March

The month started with the first 3 days producing minimum air temperatures below zero of -2.1, -2.9 and -1.3 respectively. The ground minimums on all three days were -7c then the temperatures lifted the period from the 13th - 22nd the maximum temperatures were all in double figures and from the 28th to the 30th again good maximum temperatures were recorded. These temperatures saw the means on average +1.0c The month was marked by snow the mornings of the 10th, 11th and 12th and small hail on the 4th, 20th 23rd and 24th.

April

On the afternoon of 26th a storm broke at 12.24 hours and ended at 16.00 hours with a total of 30 mm of rain. At its peak at 13.18 hours the rainfall was intense with a rate of 680 mm per hour. Parts of Sheffield were flooded with 6 inches of standing water in places.

The mean temperatures were all above average with the mean of +2.32c

May

The temperatures were above normal by +2.0c on the maximum, minimum and mean.

The rainfall of 67 mm was 115% of the average. On the 21st only 1 mm of rain was recorded and during a downpour about 2 miles down the road the lower part of a church roof was covered in hail and the roads had water to a depth of 6".

June

June 2004 was the warmest June in the last 50 years and also a wet month the highlight of the month was the summer storm of the night of 22nd 23rd.

Apart from the spell from the 19th to the 22nd the temperatures held up very well the period 2nd through to the 15th say the maximum fell to no less than 17.0c on the 3rd. The lowest minimum was 6.4c in the wet period of the 18th to the 25th. The averages worked mean maximum 20.7c that was +2.1c. More astounding was the fact that the record for the mean minimum for the month was broken we had 12.7c against the average of 9.8c which gave + 2.9c this exceeded the 11.7c which was recorded in 1992 therefore the mean again was higher 16.7c against the average of 14.2 which gave +2.5.

The rainfall was 169% of the average with a wet period from 18th through to the 25th, which took into account the period of the storm a total of 87mm was recorded in that period 39 in the period 22nd-23rd at the peak in this period rain was falling at the rate of 164mm per hour.

The day of the storm the 23rd produced a wind speed of 38.6mhp more dramatic was the fall in pressure from 09Z on the 22nd with a reading of 1011mb decreasing to a low of 986mb @ at 13Z on the 23rd and as the storm moved away on the 24th the pressure was 1000mb at 09Z

July

The rainfall was 197% of the average with a wet period to start the month off with falls of 9mm on the 2nd, 19mm on the 3rd and 16mm on the 4th giving 44mm in the 3 days by contrast the storm of the 6th gave 6mm and the storm of the 20th a further 7mm. There was a total of 19 wet days with measurable rain of 1mm or more.

There were storms on the 6th and the 20th of the month

August

This was the wettest August on record with 192mm of rain falling against the
Previous high of 137mm recorded in 1956 with 65mm falling on the 9th

There was thunder heard on 6 days during the month.

The recorded for the mean minimum was broken the previous was 11.7c.

September

September 2004 was another record-breaking month with a new record mean minimum temperature of 11.6c breaking the old record of 11.5c that was recorded in 1958.

The mean maximum was +1.2c the mean minimum was +1.9c and the mean was +1.6c. The highest mean for the record was 15.9c in the warm September of 1999.

The rainfall was just over average with 73mm falling in the month.

October

The first ground frost of the winter was recorded on the night of the 27th of –1.0c

At 01.43 hours on the night of the 21st the pressure fell to 981mb

This particular month was a record for rainfall one event in particular was the passage of the front on the 5th of October at 0750 hours the humidity was 84 and at 11.49 hours it was 47% and it rose quickly so that by 12.59 hours it was 79%. The rain started to fall at 10.17 hours and ended at 13.40 hours with a total of 56mm falling during this short period. The rain fell at a peak rate of 534mm per hour at 11.26 hours and at 11.23 hours a maximum wind speed of 47.5 mph was reached.

There were a total of 24 wet days in the month and the total rainfall was 205mm, which is a new record for an October, over the past 50 years against the previous local total of 198.1mm, set in 1998. This again is 205% of the usual monthly total

November

There were a total of 3 days with an air frost the successive days of 19th 20th and 21st and these were the days on which snow was lying. A further 7 days were recorded with a ground frost with a minimum of –8.0c on the 20th

There were a total of 22 wet days in the month and the total rainfall was 96mm, which is 126% of the local average.

Sunshine was in short supply with 42.56 hours recorded during the month with the 13th giving a total of 7.03 hours but in total I recorded 12 sunless days

The significant event was the late afternoon of Thursday 18th when 1 cm of snow fell locally traffic was moving howbeit at a slow pace but the A57 Snake Pass over to Manchester was blocked.

December

December 2004 saw the mean temperatures at 1.4c above the normal averages for this part of the country. On some days within the month the diurnal range was very small indeed with a of 1.2 c on the warmer day of the 31st as an example and 1.1c on the 2nd

There were a total of 3 days with an air frost and snow was lying only on Christmas morning with a slight covering. A further 14 days were recorded with a ground frost with a minimum of –6.0c on the 20th

There were a total of only 6 sunless days in the month with am overall total of 61.25 hours. Some days had only small amounts of sunshine

69.9 Total Sunshine (hours)
8.82 Most in a day (hours)
01 Day of Most Sun
3 Sunless Days

WIND

0 Days with gale (10 min mean wind 39mph or more)

Number of days with wind from.

2 N
4 NE
3 E
4 SE
1 S
3 SW
6 W
6 NW
2 Calm

WIND GUST

6.0 Mean Wind Speed mph
36.9 Max Gust
20 Day of Max Gust

81 Cloud Cover %
75 Mean Relative Humidity (Taken at Morning Observation)
1018 Mean Pressure (mb) at 9:00 am GMT only
1037 Max pressure at any time of day 9th
994 Min pressure at any time of day 20th

STATION NOTES.

The month started with the first 3 days producing minimum air temperatures below zero of -2.1, -2.9 and -1.3 respectively. The ground minimums on all three days were -7c then the temperatures lifted the period from the 13th - 22nd the maximum temperatures were all in double figures and from the 28th to the 30th again good maximum temperatures were recorded. These temperatures saw the means on average +1.0c The month was marked by snow the mornings of the 10th, 11th and 12th and small hail on the 4th, 20th 23rd and 24th. The rainfall nevertheless was only 43% of the average with 9mm of rain falling on the 19th.

The month saw strong maximum wind gusts in the period from 1st through to the 24th with 18mph+ gust recorded with a maximum of 36.9mph on the 20th.

A rainbow was observed on the 20th on several occasions during the squalls of that day